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VIA Rail

I've also said this before, but part of the problem is the politics stemming from us being such a large country. While half of the population could very well benefit from improved passenger rail in the Quebec-Windsor corridor, half of the population wouldn't benefit from that investment and have no interest in supporting it.
 
roger1818 said:
I've also said this before, but part of the problem is the politics stemming from us being such a large country. While half of the population could very well benefit from improved passenger rail in the Quebec-Windsor corridor, half of the population wouldn't benefit from that investment and have no interest in supporting it.
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It would therefore require a strong political and financial commitment from the ON&QC governments, just like some 95% of road funding in this country comes from a sub-national level of government…
 
roger1818 said:
I've also said this before, but part of the problem is the politics stemming from us being such a large country. While half of the population could very well benefit from improved passenger rail in the Quebec-Windsor corridor, half of the population wouldn't benefit from that investment and have no interest in supporting it.
Click to expand...
It's the individual mindset that exists in Canada. No collectivism. As an Ontarian, I would most likely never benefit from a railroad in Alberta connecting Calgary and Edmonton. But I would fully support it's construction.

"A rising tide lifts all boats."
 
Urban Sky said:
It would therefore require a strong political and financial commitment from the ON&QC governments, just like some 95% of road funding in this country comes from a sub-national level of government…
Click to expand...

While I agree with you, the provincial governments have a very different view on these things. They tend to want the federal government to do most of the funding, but then turn around and say that the provinces should have all of the control on how that funding is used.

Bojaxs said:
It's the individual mindset that exists in Canada. No collectivism. As an Ontarian, I would most likely never benefit from a railroad in Alberta connecting Calgary and Edmonton. But I would fully support it's construction.

"A rising tide lifts all boats."
Click to expand...

I would feel very similar to you on this. While this sentiment might be common across Ontario (one would need to do a survey to know for sure), I don't think this sentiment is shared nation wide. As someone who grew up in BC, I know that western media love to preach the narrative that most of the funding goes to Ontario and Quebec, and the western provinces don't get their fare share of funding.
 
roger1818 said:
While I agree with you, the provincial governments have a very different view on these things. They tend to want the federal government to do most of the funding, but then turn around and say that the provinces should have all of the control on how that funding is used.
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Of course! That’s why certain provinces love talking about more VIA service while avoiding any mention of the possibility to support the expansion of intercity bus services…
 
From VIA's Corporate Plan/Budget released October 2023. It shows VIA was allocated $490m for infrastructure investments including reducing bottlenecks 3 years ago and they've spent less than 2% of the allocated funds so far. Are they advancing any projects?
Screen Shot 2024-02-11 at 10.48.17 AM.png
 
Toronto1834 said:
From VIA's Corporate Plan/Budget released October 2023. It shows VIA was allocated $490m for infrastructure investments including reducing bottlenecks 3 years ago and they've spent less than 2% of the allocated funds so far. Are they advancing any projects?
View attachment 539918
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Given how Metrolinx projects currently all-but-monopolize the planning/designing/construction capabilities available in the Canadian rail industry, I would have been surprised if they had been able to spend much more than that within some 20 months after the funding was allocated (presumably in Spring 2021)…
 
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Toronto1834 said:
From VIA's Corporate Plan/Budget released October 2023. It shows VIA was allocated $490m for infrastructure investments including reducing bottlenecks 3 years ago and they've spent less than 2% of the allocated funds so far. Are they advancing any projects?
View attachment 539918
Click to expand...
Maybe they're waiting until after they pick the winning RFP. The money can be spent on early works while they're in the development phase.
 
chrisw said:
Maybe they're waiting until after they pick the winning RFP. The money can be spent on early works while they're in the development phase.
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I kind of hope so. While there may be no-brainer projects that could be pursued immediately, having the proponents validate the need for these, and align plans to whatever is selected, makes a lot of sense. There could be a lot of capital wasted if the service design turns out differently

- Paul
 
Bordercollie said:
That could be money to help renovate some stations like London and work at MMC.
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It has to be for works which are useful for HxR (which excludes London) and MMC is already taken care of by the Corridor fleet renewal (which includes a new maintenance facility at MMC). The only overlap between HxR and VIA’s current Corridor network is MTRL-OTTW-SMTF and the final approaches into TRTO and QBEC…

Edit:
No need to guess what the $491.2 million were intended for:
In its 2021 budget, the federal government proposed providing VIA $491.2M in funding over six years starting in 2021-22 for infrastructure investments that would support the overall success of the high frequency rail project. These investments will help reduce bottlenecks, improve fluidity and connectivity, and allow VIA to take an important step towards high frequency rail. With this in mind, the Montreal Mobility Modernization (MMM) program was created.


The program is divided into three projects identified by the Government of Canada and that VIA was mandated to complete:

  1. Eliminate two railway crossings in downtown Montreal;
  2. Improve sidings in the Butler sector to convert them into main tracks and build a freight train bypass;
  3. Build an intermodal station in Dorval.
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www.systra.com

Technical Assistance to VIA Rail on Dorval Intermodal Station Project

SYSTRA Canada, consulting and engineering firm, world leader in public transport infrastructure engineering.
www.systra.com www.systra.com
 
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